Rating: 
Summary: Recycled Product I-Special Edition
Review: "Independence Day" may not be the best science-fiction in film history, but it definitely isn't the worst. The appearance of the alien ships and the firestorm that destroys some of the major U.S. cities are the highlights of this film -the destruction of the White House is staggering.However director Roland Emmerich presents us a true recycled product of some of the old science-fiction films. There are shots in this movie that are almost the same -and sometimes a carbon copy -as "Star Wars", "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Battlestar Galactica", "Star Trek-The Motion Picture", "Firefox", and countless others. Who knows if he was paying a tribute to those movies? This special edition DVD presents this movie with 9 minutes of additional footage. One interesting thing about this extra material is that I could finally find the relationship of drunken pilot Russell Casse with his "son" Miguel. Apart from that, there is nothing interesting in the extra scenes. All in all, this DVD presentation is a real kick. It's worth the price.
Rating:
Summary: Independence Day
Review: Special edition was great. Added scenes were a glad to see bonus.
Rating:
Summary: Makes 'The Insider' look intellectually bankrupt
Review: Absolutely huge for a short while in the late-90's, this 'War of the Worlds'-esque sci-fi opus gave the world an exploding Empire State building, Bill Pullman as a fighter-jock president, and a second Jeff Goldblum action figure (to go with the noticeably less-muscular 'Jurassic Park' version). It was a watershed in CGI and model effects technology, and whilst the same director / producer team went on to scupper their reputation with 'Godzilla' (an awful, empty film that made a huge amount of money), the unsequelised 'ID4' still seems much as it did in 1995. It was and remains utterly, utterly brainless, but huge fun, and now it's out on DVD. It hasn't dated too badly - whilst the exploding buildings and rushing crowds seem obviously faked, the surprisingly-sparce dogfighting footage still looks top-notch, and the alien vessels still seem extremely impressive. The acting is unimportant, and the fact that, after the initial attack, not much happens for the middle hour notwithstanding, it's old-school mass-entertainment of a type not seen since the mid-70's disaster movie genre. There's a fantastic amount of extra bits on this DVD, and along with 'The Matrix' this is a model of how to do this kind of thing - there's an alternative ending, one which makes you glad that they ditched it, some extra 'special edition' sequences, two 'Making of' documentaries, an amusing 'Blair Witch' / Orson Welles-esque fake news documentary on the alien menace, and some interesting commentaries. Furthermore, as it is split over two discs, the picture and sound quality is superb.
Rating:
Summary: So-So film Redeemed by Great Package
Review: I am not going to review the film here. There are problems with it plot wise, etc. but it is still a very good sci-fi film. However, the DVD goodie package is awesome! Two different audio commentaries (although Roland Emmerich's "Kinda like's" make me wish I could turn him off), cool documentaries/making of's and both the theatrical and special edition make this one of the better DVD packages around. (If only Blade Runner would follow this example!)
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment
Review: Beware, the only reason this has 2 disks is the fact that the first one has 2 movies and 2 commentraries. The second disk is filled with mediocre extra featutes. Gets 2 stars on movie's merit only!
Rating: 
Summary: That's odd.....
Review: Well, the DVD plays just fine on my RCA DVD/DIVX player...maybe the DVD just doesn't work with Toshiba players, but it does on the rest.
Rating: 
Summary: Problems on older Toshiba
Review: This Special Edition of ID4 will not play on a Toshiba 3108 that has not had a firmware upgrade. You will see a message stating, "Please Check Disc."
Rating:
Summary: Good movie, excellent but bad DVD
Review: From what I've read, some people are having problems with this DVD. The extras are the best I've ever seen and Fox has really gone out on a limb, but it occasionally repeats scenes that just got over. Why? I just got my DVD player and maybe it's some sort of technical problem that I'll eventually learn, but until then, I don't understand how a professional film company could screw up such a wonderful disc.
Rating:
Summary: Good Film Great DVD
Review: This two-disc dvd package includes a wonderful transfer and awesome special features. The special edition version was fun too.
Rating:
Summary: Good Movie - Great DVD
Review: I bought this movie because Fox seems to put out excellent DVD's. The Abyss, Fight Club, Aliens - all great Special Editions with extras. The same is true of Independence Day. Disc 1 has the theatrical version as well as the Special Edition. Disc 2 is just full of Extra Features. Documentaries & Behind the Scenes Footage are all over the place. There is also an alternate ending. I'm sure most people have seen the movie - but just in case here's the quick lowdown. Alien battleships strategically position themselves around the world. They eventually attack earth & of course USA leads the world in a counter-attack. Great Special Effects & CGI throughout the movie. Great performances by Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Will Smith, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, Judd Hirsch and many more. This is one of those DVD's that is actually worth buying. Movie gets a 4 - DVD deserves a 5. Way to go again Fox!
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